PlanetBids Reviews

I like the accessibility and the support staff.

Probably how the addendum show up just under documents and not when you click and enter addendum.

Outstanding customer service!! User friendly, robust, variety of features, reports, constant improvements, ability to duplicate bids, export/import to/from Excel, assortment of relevant trainings/webinars available.

Addenda section in Bid Management module seems a bit redundant.

Entirely web-based interface that is easy to use without needing significant training

Lack of customisation options for landing pages, bid structure, etc.

Ease of Use. Vendor Outreach. Comprehensive Program.

No cons that I have experienced. Any recommended improvements, PlanetBids has been receptive in considering them.

Outreach to vendors is the only thing I can think of.

No Flexibility without exorbitant price increases.

The ease of posting. The drag and drop for files, how the categories are grouped.

It would be nice to receive an email when my bid has "officially closed" as a reminder to go into the system and pull down the responses. Or maybe have the response files emailed directly once the bid closes?

Easy to use for the most part. User friendly.

There are a few areas that require too many steps.

Ease of access and reliable customer service

Vendors are not able to save incomplete application in planetbids.

I like the ability to consolidate all procurement activities onto one platform so that both staff and the public have access to all purchasing activities in one central location.

I do not like the fact that we are unable to set a release date on the system. For example, if I need a solicitation released on a day that I am unable to post it myself, it would be convenient to have that as an option, especially for our day-to-day smaller solicitations.

Thank you for your review, we take great pride in the ease of use of the PB System. It's flexibility and diverse modules help procurement and public works teams streamline the process effortlessly. With the ability to access the system from any remote device you can easily manage your projects from home or on vacation.

The product is easy to use and the staff at PlanetBids are so helpful. Customer Service is the best I have ever experienced. Not only to listen but they also implement ideas from the end-users!

There is nothing to date that I dislike about this software.

Thank you for your comment "the best company I have ever worked with" and "they also implement ideas from the end-users!" We understand the importance of providing outstanding customer services to our clients and business partners. PlanetBids' mission is to be your best business partner. Our client support team has extensive personal experience working in public procurement and understands the importance of timely responses and the need to actively listen and implement your suggestions to meet the changing needs of public agencies.

The online bid submittal process is the most impactful feature of the application. We previously used a system that advertised bids online but received hard copy bid documents. Planetbids helps eliminate the clerical errors in the bid tabulation, which is a major contributing factor in bid protests.

The numbering system in the Q&A response should be more flexible. When issuing batch responses, the user does not know the question number until the system assign them, therefore, make it difficult to reference a similar answer to the question.

We were thrilled that the PlanetBids PB System has helped your agency achieve its goals! Since 2000, PlanetBids' focus has been to assist government procurement and public works professionals in taking their roles from tactical to strategic by automating and streamlining processes. Our extensive vendor database enables agencies to increase outreach and receive more responsive submissions. Clients...

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easy to use once you know what to do. I like that the reports can be put into an excel file for easy access to share out with our departments.

improvement on the scoring section allowing users to input their actual score not on a sliding scale. I feel there are so many things our agency are not using since we do not know what all the possibilities are. Id like to see 3-5 minute how-to videos, i have attended some of the monthly trainings and there is so much information for me to retain, smaller chunks would be nice.

Thank you for your review and feedback. The PB System provides many valuable comprehensive reports throughout each module in various formats. PlanetBids takes feedback very seriously and thanks to clients like yourself, our team is developing additional scoring tools to provide flexibility and options when evaluating. We are happy that your experience has been great. We appreciate your business.

Vendor managed database. Bid/RFP library

The overall cost when compared to other "free" solutions on the market.

Thank you for your great review. The Bid Spec Library is one of our many collaboration tools that provide valuable information to our clients. With tens of thousands of solicitations to pull from, clients can easily download documents and research specification requirements for products, services, and construction. While there are solutions offered at no-cost to the agency, the cost is recouped by charging the vendors access to bid opportunities. To provide a fair opportunity to all vendors, PlanetBids standard fee structure charges the agency for licensing allowing free access to vendors and the public. We appreciate your business!

It is the City bid platform for now. A minimum 40 character to submit so I am just typing to meet the minimum.

The new software implemented is not as user friendly as the previous version and missing components that were available under the previous version, for instance local preference to bid responses. A lot more steps in reviewing, reading and obtaining information, in and out of various screens. I work with the new version because we have to but I do not like it.

Thank you for your review and feedback. We take feedback very seriously. Your comments have been directed to our President. PlanetBids offers additional free training in our monthly webinars, online user guides, FAQs, and direct support. We will have a representative reach out to you directly on how we can make your transition to the new PB System easier. We appreciate your business.

Software is user friendly and fairly easy to manage all of our agency's bids.

Nothing comes to mind on what can be improved.

Thank you for taking the time to leave such an excellent review! We strive to make the PB System the ultimate tool to manage all types of solicitations from Quote to Proposals, including construction. With government procurement experience, our support staff understands the importance of responding quickly. We appreciate your business.

I like the reports I can run. Specific to vendors. The system allows for great communication avenues for distribution information about upcoming procurements and contractor events.

When searching for vendors, I'd love to be able to include a box for contractors must have both licenses selected. Usually vendors have one or maybe both of the licenses, but being able to include a must have option would be helpful.

Thank you for the positive comments on the PlanetBids PB System's robust reporting, and great communication options to connect with the vendor community. Our Development Team has been notified of your suggestion. Great feedback like this makes the PB System agile to meet our clients' various needs.

The price is reasonable and adds value for our department.

Not user friendly / intuitive, Needs hands son training.

Thank you for your review. Providing value has been part of the PlanetBids mission since the company started in 2000. With increased outreach, there is greater competition, resulting in better pricing by an average of 312%, not to mention the time savings for staff. The PlanetBids PB System strives to make the system as user friendly and intuitive as possible. However, we understand that there are times when additional instruction may be needed. PlanetBids Customer Service staff is available to guide our clients or to schedule one-on-one training. We also offer monthly free webinars, including "Inside Scoop" and others to assist clients in getting the full benefit of the many features the PB System provides.

I like the ease of use. I like that this software helps the city with transparency and with going paperless and accepting electronic bids and proposals.

I felt that there were too many steps in the implementation of the RFP evaluations. we did not use this module because it seemed too complicated to use.

Thank you for taking the time to leave a great review! We appreciate your feedback. Ease of use, transparency, secure bidding process with acceptance of ebids, ebonds, sealed costs for proposals, audit trail, and excellent customer service are our primary goals in providing a well-rounded e-procurement system. PlanetBids launched its 3rd generation PB System last year. We'd love to show you the latest evolution of the Project Evaluation module, with robust, streamlined processes giving our clients the flexibility they need to evaluate not only RFP's but any RFX.

Planet Bids is easy to use for both my staff and for suppliers. We have often had suppliers tell us that Planet Bid's customer service is excellent. We too always receive a quick response if we have questions, comments or need assistance. I really like that they ask clients for feedback and use that feedback to make improvements.

I can't think of any cons, I think Planet Bids has potential that I haven't yet learned in the last three years.

Thank you for taking the time to leave your fantastic review! As you commented, we take feedback very seriously. We make it a point to listen to our clients, their vendors and keep abreast of changes in the public procurement arena. Our goal is to provide our clients with the tools to be AGILE and meet current and future needs.

The PlanetBids staff support is wonderful and unmatched

Cannot think of anything that I had issues with

Thank you for taking the time to leave such an excellent review! As you commented, we strive to make the PB System intuitive and extremely user-friendly. With government procurement experience, our support staff understands the importance of responding quickly. Our mission is to be your best strategic partner. We appreciate your business.